«Konnichiwa. Please dance with your face,» says the Japanese Siri and makes it clear that Tim & Puma Mimi are back! After seven years of absence aka raising children aka intern training, another baby is born. More precisely, an auditory one of twelve tracks: «More or Less Tim & Puma Mimi».
Addition and subtraction mingle throughout the the record which makes many new signature sounds appear: a Pocket Operator synthesizer that looks like a calculator and sounds like a Game Boy. A vocoder that opens new possibilities for Mimi’s unique vocals. Or the KoTaMo, a mix of koto, tambura and monochord – three cultural areas, three orchestras, one instrument.
What is striking about the new songs are the (supposedly) missing beats and the even stronger influx of Japanese music elements via flute melodies, sounds of crickets or folk songs («Aka Tombo», «Ryushi»). From the second half onwards, a dark, experimental trip-hop mood («Bansoko», «Floating Volcano») also awaits. However, the unique Tim & Puma Mimi quirkiness remains on all levels.
Be it, when the two interns contribute their children’s voices («Pale Blue»), or when guitarist and family friend Toshi TKNG stylishly shreds solos. Including instructions such as «This is Hotel California! («Nichiyoubi») and that inspired by Duran Duran.» («Blanket Otaru Version»)
Other guests: DJ Benni Bo, who put a balafon on Tim’s breakfast table in Hamburg shortly before his departure to quickly record some ideas («Pale Blue»), ten musician friends who perform the last piece as a kind of collage («Guestbook No. 2»). And finally Bálint Dobozi (Calabrese’s Rumpelorchester), responsible for the mix of this whole lunacy. In addition, there is a cover version of Knarf Rellöm & DJ Pattex’s («Little Big City»), a homage to the squats of Zurich.
In addition to these influences, «More or Less Tim & Puma Mimi» was mainly created while traveling and in seclusion. Hikes around Menorca, in Sapporo or in Ticino’s Onsernone Valley, as well as overnight stays in caves and lonely cottages, brought time, clarity and focus. The result is twelve fascinating songs, accompanied by a comic, which in sum, as always, tears down all boundaries. Because the only rule of Tim & Puma Mimi is that there is no rule.
